Regulating-socket for electric lamps



(No Model.)

0. A. GHUTE.

RBGULATING SOCKET FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS. No. 566,892. Patented Sept. 1, 1896.

Fig.1. Fig.2.

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C Z //{///////////L //A w'mmeooab UNITED STATES PATENTv OFFIC CLARENCE A. CHUTE, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

REGULAT-lNG-SOCKET FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 566,892, dated September 1, 1896. Application filed February 8, 1896. Serial No. 578,463. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.- r

Be it knownthat I, CLARENCE A. OEUTE, a citizen of the United States, residing 'at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Regulating Sockets for Electric Lamps; and I do declare the follow ing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

lVIy invention relates to sockets for inc'an-. descent electric lamps, and has for its object the combination, with a socket arranged to bring the terminals of the filament of a lamp and line-wires into conducting contact, of a rheostat whereby the light-giving power of the lamp may be varied between certain limits. This object I accomplish by employin g a spool-insulator having a flattened portion, by winding thereupon a wire, usually of German silver, possessing the desired resistance to the passage of current electricity, by insulating each coil of the wire from every other one, by providing a slide bearing a springoperated contact-pin and means for operating the slide whereby more or less of the resisting-wire can be included in the local lamp-circuit. Each constituent element of my invention is described in detail, and the mode of operation fully explained hereinbelow.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein like letters designate likeparts in the several views, Figure 1 represents a side View of the exterior of my device, showing the key and the triangular extra casing supporting it. Fig. 2 represents a side view of the working parts, one-half of the casing and the key having been removed. Fig. 3 represents a vertical cross-section upon line X X of Fig. 1. Fig. it representsa vertical longitudinal sectional view of my invention, omitting the casing and following a median line Z Z of the final Fig. 5, which represents an end view, casing omitted, taken from beyond the right-hand end of Fig. 2.

Considering Fig. 1, A designates the casing; B, the triangular addition thereto; 0, the

porcelain or hard-rubber spool, having a flat side 0 and one end closed with the exception of the ventilating-apertures c c; D, ahollow form of asbestos or other yielding insulating material closely fitting the spool exteriorly, and directly upon which the resistance-wire E is wound.

F marks the thumb-piece of a key having a stem G, which is supported in an orifice structed. A metallic Contact between pin and, slide is essential, and the wire composing the spring may be used to supplement the movable connection, thus avoiding unnecessary resistance to the current by soldering one end of the spring-wire to each part mentioned. The construction of pin and spring involves no departure from common forms .and require no further description.

. P and Q designate the rigid wires or rods upon which the slide is caused to travel. The

rods pass through parallel orifices bored to fit.

them closely, and, while the slide may be readily operated, a sufficiently effective metallic contact is maintained with the rods throughout its movement. The extremities of P are embedded and fixed in the flanges of the spool, as is one end of rod Q. The remaining end of Q passes through the flange of the spool, where it is flattened and pierced with an orifice through which a set-screw R passes.

S designates a conducting-ring provided with a projection having an orifice of the same size, substantially, as that drilled through the fiat end of rod Q. The ring is attached concentrically upon the outer surface of the closed end of the spool, with the projection arranged in such position that the orifice in rod Q may be brought immediately over it, and through both orifices the screwR engages a threaded aperture in the end of the spool.

The end of rodQ is thereby pressed. upon the projection of the ring and a suiticient connection for the passage of electricity maintained between them.

T marks a metal screw fixed in the center of the end of spool O, and it is, therefore, insulated from ring S by the intervening material of the spool. (See Figs. 4 and 5.) Before being riveted into its final position the rivet of screw T is passed through an orifice in a bent metal strip U, which fits the bottom of a recess V, formed radially in the closed end of the spool for its reception. lVhen screw T is fixed in position, care is taken to provide a clean metallic contact with the bent strip, one end of which is thereby fixed in the recess, the remaining end of the strip being fixed by set-screw 0. (Best shown in Fig. 5, and again referred to hereinafter.) In Figs. 4 and 5 it is plainly shown that ring S passes over recess V and above strip U, contact between strip and ring being thus guarded against. TV and Y mark the two line-wires extending from the main or service wires through the fixtures into the casing by way of the interiorly-threaded nipple centrally attached to the casing, as shown in section in Fig. 2. Continuing the wires pass through the hollow in the spool, through the ventilatingorifices a c, whereupon wire Y is connected with metal strip U by set-screw E, and therefore with metal screw T. The W is con ducted to setscrew cl, which engages a threaded aperture in the end of the spool, and the office of screw d is to join, metallically, the ends of the wire WV and resistance-coil D. The connections are plainly presented in Figs. 4 and 5.

The operation of my invention may be described as follows: It will be observed that wire XV, Fig. 4., has been connected with the lowest coil of the resistance-wire, which coil was continued through the spool to screw cl. It will also be noted that one line-wire terminal has been established at the screw T. The second line-wire terminal remains to be accounted for. As the slide L is moved up and down by the key and its attachments, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, it maintainsa metallic connection with both metal guide-rods P and Q. The form erbein g entirely insulated, no electricity can be conducted out of the system in that direction. The latter, however, possesses a good connection with ring S, which is at once recognized as the second line-wire terminal. As the resistancewire is coiled on the asbestos form about the spool, there results upon the fiat side 0 a series of parallel wires, each fixed in position upon a plain surface. It is upon this side of the spool that guide-wires and slide are situated, and the rounded head of pin N is held by spring 0 in constant contact with the series of parallel wires as the slide is raised and lowered. By winding the resistance-wire upon a hollow form of insulating material possessing the yielding characterof asbestos paperthe several coils of the wire sink slightly into the surface of the form. The position of each coilis thus permanently fixed, while projecting beyond the form suificiently for adequate contact with the pin N. WVere not the coils thus fixed and separated in some such mannerby insulation, the moving pin might eventually displace them, cutting out the resistance altogether. If wound upon the bare spool tightly enough to maintain its place, too great strain would be thrown upon the wire. If the slide rests near the lowest coil of the resistance, (see Fig. 2,) but little obstruction is ofiered to the current from wire N through a short length of coil E by way of pin, slide, and rod Q to ring S; but should the slide be raised, bringing the pin into contact with the upper coil, practically the entire resistance would be thrown into circuit, reducing the condition of a lamp-filament from brilliant incandescence to a minimum glow. It is obvious that the candle-power of a lamp may be varied between the limits described. \Vhile my invention could be employed in connection with alternating-current generators, it has been designed particularly for service in di root-current system.

I am aware that rheostats have been construeted wherein a greater or less length of resisting-wire is thrown into circuit by a movable arm and sliding contacts, and I do not claim that feature broadly.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. A regulating-socket for electric lamps having in combination with an insulatingspool, a wire capable of resisting the passage of electricity and adapted to be wound helically upon said spool, metallic guide-rods attached to said spool, a metallic terminal or pole plate, means for connecting one of said rods and said plate, a metallic slide constructed to engage said guide rods and to be moved up and down thereupon, a spring-operated contact-pin in metallic connection with the slide, and mechanism for operating the slide, substantially as described.

2. A regulating-socket for electric lamps having in combination with an insulatingspool possessing a flat side, a hollow form of yielding insular-in g material adapted to closely fit the spool exteriorly, a wire capable of re sisting the passage of electricity and adapted to be wound helically upon said form and spool, metallic guide-rods attached to said spool, a metallic terminal or pole plate, means for connecting one of said rods and said plate, a metallic slide constructed to engage said rods and to be moved up and down thereupon, a spring-operated contact-pin in metallic connection with the slide, mechanism for operating said slide, a second terminal or pole piece adapted for attachment to a linewire, and means borne by the spool for attaching said resisting-wire to a line-wire, substantially as described.

loop of said slide, a second terminal or pole piece adapted for attachment to a line-Wire, and means borne by the spool for attaching said resisting-wire to a line-Wire, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

CLARENCE A. OHUTE.

Witnesses:

FRANK O. J ONES, ARTHUR SoMARINnYcK. 

